Paul Ryan slams President Obama ‘straw man’ speech

Rep. Paul Ryan on Tuesday blasted President Barack Obama’s “straw man” attack on the Republican Party over entitlement programs.

The Wisconsin Republican told “The Laura Ingraham Show” that Obama’s second inaugural address demonstrated the president does not understand the Republican position on entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security. Ryan responded to Obama’s line that these programs “do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great,” telling guest host Raymond Arroyo that the president’s take on the issue entirely missed the mark.

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Obama address Social Security, Medicare

POLITICO LIVE: Republicans respond to Obama speech

Ryan said earned entitlements such as Social Security — where you pay your payroll taxes during your working life to get a benefit when you retire — are “not taker programs.”

“When the president does kind of a switcheroo like that, what he’s trying to say is that we are maligning these programs that people have earned throughout their working lives,” he said. “So it’s kind of a convenient twist of terms to try and shadowbox a straw man in order to win an argument by default.”

Tuesday’s radio show kicked off with a clip from Ryan that made headlines during the 2012 campaign, featuring the House Budget Committee chairman saying that “right now about 60 percent of the American people get more benefits in dollar value from the federal government than they pay back in taxes. So we’re going to a majority of takers versus makers in America.”

After playing the clip, Arroyo said during the Inauguration the president “implicitly” mentioned Ryan, and the congressman responded that the reference was a “switcheroo” by Obama.

“No one is suggesting that what we call our earned entitlements, entitlements you pay for like payroll taxes for Medicare and Social Security, are putting you in a taker category,” Ryan said. “No one suggests that whatsoever. The concern that people like me have been raising is we do not want to encourage a dependency culture.”

And, as shown by the second inaugural address, the president will keep taking that line in his dealings with Republicans, Ryan said.

“I understand the president will continue to use straw man arguments — affix views to your political adversaries they do not have in order to try and win an argument by default,” he said.